Non-cliched horror/slasher movies (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

Phil,
I hope you like it. The currently-available volume is called I Am Legend and includes the titular novella plus several short stories. Another great Matheson collection currently available is The Incredible Shrinking Man. I highly recommend it. The title story is, well, incredible, and the book also includes Matheson's original versions of Duel and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.
Dome:

quote: Black Christmas
- That English chick is pretty hot .

Ohhhh, yes. I really, really go for the brunette/blue eyes look. She is quite lovely. I would recommend Romeo and Juliet if you wanted to see more of her, but that would be wrong. She was underage at the time.

[Edited last by Greg_S_H on August 15, 2001 at 04:20 PM]

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

How about movies like...
Burnt Offerings
The Entity and The Fog
I dont think Poltergeist was cliched at the time.
Also I agree with the guy above that posted movies like
Dead of Winter and Near Dark.
I am very curious about The Others, Jeepers Creepers and Session 9 that are coming out that are suppose to be non slasher.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I find this a very odd statement considering that The Others owes a lot to The Haunting. It's basically The Haunting told from a different perspective and then mixed with (and I'll use spoilers in case anyone hasn't seen The Others)

Well, I better explain myself. In the original Haunting, the paranoid lady wakes up to find that she had been holding hands with some unknown entity. Near the end of the movie Spoiler: she is confronted with a freaky face which turns out to be the wife of the scientist. Including the beginning prologue, those are the only three moments in which I was genuinely either intrigued or felt the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. Otherwise, I was bored by the scientist's and that other guy's speculations on the hauntings in the house. Was I disappointed by the fact that I didn't see a single ghost? Not at all, because going in I knew I wouldn't see any ghosts. I was expecting great cinematography and creepy imagery. Instead, I was treated to a house that just had things that go bump in the night. I don't think it helped either that I live in a creepy house to begin with. Bangings on the wall and "cold air" don't necessarily add up to being scary, terrifying, freaky, etc. My house creaks and bangs all the time. As for the final straw, the cliche this movie had was a terrified/paranoid character who can't seem to keep their composure, regardless of the circumstances.
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"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." - Homer J. Simpson

 

[Josh Dial]

American psycho comes to mind!
cheers!
Josh

 

[Wes Ray]

Dome,
Well honestly, the Elm Street series isn't too bad if you take out Freddy's one-liners in each film. Part 3 has a dark, mature story, and a very unsettling atmosphere. Part 4 has some great, scary nightmare sequences. Part 5 is probably the darkest of the series, and at least the makeup people tried to get Freddy looking scary again (though I can't defend the "Super Freddy" sequence).
The Friday the 13th films are enjoyable to watch mainly for the creativity and make-up effects regarding the death scenes (which Tom Savini started with his work in the first one).
I've spoken my opnion about Valentine many times on here, so I won't repeat it entirely. I just think it's a cliched, but quite enjoyable throwback to the slasher films of the early 80's, and not so much the dreadful ones in the Scream era.
This brings me to the Scream Trilogy. While I love Scream and Scream 2 even more so, Scream 3 was just so laughably bad that even as a die-hard Wes Craven fan, I cannot defend it. It is truly proof that Wes Craven has indeed lost his creative nutsack. The only cool thing about it was that it brought back Patrick Dempsey. It tied up the loose ends of the series in the most idiotic and laughable of ways. Spoiler:Long lost brother... Give me a friggin' break. What a let-down. This piece of crap from the guy who gave us the original Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, and Last House on the Left.
Anyway, my choices for non-cliched horror films that Dome hasn't seen would have to be:
Last House on the Left - Very unpleasant rape/murder film that truly deserves the title "horror film".
Serpent and the Rainbow - Another very underrated Wes Craven film. Lonestar...er, Bill Pullman has never been better.
The People Under the Stairs - I hated this one when I first watched it, but when I bought it on video several years ago, I enjoyed it so much, I rewound it after I watched it, and watched it all over again.
Happy Birthday to Me - Yeah, yeah...I know it's full of cliches, but the ending/climax to this one has to be seen to be believed. Pretty cool stuff. Also check out The Burning.
April Fool's Day - Like Happy Birthday to Me, this one is full of cliches but watch this one to the very end. It's worth it. Also check out My Bloody Valentine.
House of Wax - All the old Vincent Price movies are incredible, but this one is probably my favorite.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? - If an early 1960's movie could be disturbing, this one certainly is.
[Edited last by Wes Ray on August 15, 2001 at 08:19 PM]

 

[Richard Travale]

I'm surprised that Evil Dead has not been mentioned. I would also throw in Children of the Corn.
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Rich
"A) You can never go too far and B) If I'm going to get busted it is NOT going to be by a guy like DAT."
My Website

 

[Mark Tomlin]

-Rob_C-
Was/is there actually a movie out called "Ed Gein"? Being a Wisconsin native and learning all about the "the ghoul of Plainfield" while growing up, I can't believe I would have missed it. I clearly recall all the details and I remember reading a book on his atrocities growing up but I don't recall it being made into a movie. I know "Psycho", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Silence of the Lambs" are all loosely based on Gein and his exploits.
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[Brian_J]

The opening scene in Scream 1 is one of the best ever, especially since they immediately kill off "the star." The opening scene in Scream 3 was also pretty good but it goes down from there. Its a good comedy though.

Brian
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Zed's Dead Baby...

 

[Michael Reuben]

I just remembered an obscure 1981 film that probably isn't available on video called Dead and Buried. Creepy and nasty, with some unusual casting (Jack Albertson?!). It may still show up on late-night cable, which is where I first saw it.
M.

 

[Julie K]

Mark,
Yes there's a movie called Ed Gein and it's out on DVD. (full frame, trailer, nothing else). I enjoyed the movie.
Michael,
Dead and Buried is available on an import disc from Dragon Entertainment. It's region free and NTSC. Also expensive as anything with a pretty poor picture, but I'm happy to have it.
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My DVDs
"Some people think I'm over-prepared, paranoid...maybe even a little crazy. But they never met any pre-Cambrian life forms, did they?"

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Dead and Buried. I remember that movie. I read the book too.
As far as Scream 3 goes, I have to agree. Pretty bad but is their truth to the rumor that they had another script for the movie that they threw away?